A top solicitor is backing MP Stephen Hepburn's bid to crack down on irresponsible company directors.

The Jarrow MP's Private Members' Bill, to make directors legally responsible for health and safety at work, will get its second reading in Parliament on Thursday.

Now backing the bill is Roger Maddocks, partner at the Newcastle-based firm Irwin Mitchell, who believes many companies are either unaware of their responsibilities to health and safety or simply ignore the law.

"All businesses, whatever size and whatever industry, need to take notice. We want businesses to place safety at the top of their agenda."

If made law the Bill could see directors, if found guilty of serious negligence, sent to prison.

The move comes as latest figures released this week by two unions, the Transport and General Workers Union and Union of Construction Allied Trades and Technicians, reveal there were 27 work deaths during the region from 2003 to 2004.